#unpopular opinions: code geass

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

At a friend's recommendation, I've been watching Code Geass, which I missed back when it first aired because a) I was like, a freshman in college or something so I was busy, and b) because when I did hear anything about it it was either about the Pizza Hut ads or about the gaybaiting, so my opinion of it was not particularly positive

Anyway here are some bad MS Paint images I've made while we've discussed the show

I am finding Season 2 frankly a bit hard to follow but the show is much better than my mid-oughts impression of it led me to believe

[brawltogethernow]

Ask game: Code Geass

Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme

Code Geass altered me irrevocably as a human being but not when I watched it. It GRIPPED me when I watched it because it has a lot of tropes I like and really aggressive pacing, but at the end I was like, "...Huh." And then I rewatched it and I was like "Huh..." And then every four or so years I would remember it existed and spend a bit going hey, actually, what the FUCK was that. Each time I had forgotten more about Code Geass which allowed the massive amount of EXTRA NOISE in this show to fall away until I was eventually face to face with the naked bones of the Lelouch-and-Suzaku Thing that led up to it ending like that, and I realized that this is actually one of the most metal and geometrically structured tragedy plotlines I've ever seen. Having gripped this clarity the rest of the Stuff was able to filter back in and I can now better appreciate the improbable circus of the CLAMP designs and the Pizza Hut partnership and the patchwork explosion of genres and the halfassed salvo at being a waifu property and the There Was An Attempt at saying something about ableism and the vaguely applied Arthuriana &c &c &c all built out from, again, one of the most balls to the wall hourglass plots I have ever seen. It's about wanting to die, it's about wanting to live, it's about loyalty, it's about how all these things are tainted under imperialism. Critical parts of it make absolutely no goddamn sense. I'm obsessed with it. I have never completed a third rewatch.

[themattress]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury >>> Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

EXCEPT on one major count.

Ichiro Okouchi wrote both giant mecha anime series that balanced campy over-the-top spectacle and wacky school life shenanigans with serious socio-political and military writing along with mature philosophical and emotional themes. The largest differences is that Code Geass was divided into four cours (the first two being just Lelouch of the Rebellion and the second two being Lelouch of the Rebellion R2) while The Witch From Mercury was only two cours, and on Code Geass Okouchi was assisted in the writing process by Hiroyuki Yoshino, who is also known for extreme melodramatic works such as My-HiME and My-Otome.

While possibly an unpopular opinion, I believe that the lack of another pair of cours was actually good for Witch as it helped it avoid the fate that befell Geass. For all its gleeful stupidity, Geass had genuine substance and intrigue in its first pair of cours, and it all went out the window in the second pair. It was better Witch quit while it was ahead than risk the same happening to it. The lack of Yoshino also helped, as it meant Okouchi's worst instincts as a writer were more curbed rather than aided and abetted. A perfect example is to compare a major climactic event in Geass' first season vs. a similar one in Witch. In Geass, the big shark-jumping moment for the show was toward the end of its first season where a major political procedure centered around a princess wanting to do right by the people her family has oppressed but manipulated by more sinister interests was to occur, and of course it would all go wrong and there would be a lot of carnage and devastation that makes things worse instead of better. But instead of this being accomplished in a way that made logical sense that was set up by the narrative and the characters, it's because of an out-of-nowhere, completely uncharacteristic joke that happens to be made when a mind controlling power reaches the point of going outside its user's control. The mind-controlled princess goes on a civilian killing spree and in the end gets put down by a single bullet (which her nation's medical science can't treat despite saving a foreigner who was riddled with bullets several episodes earlier) so that her love interest feels man pain that will advance his character while all the potential of hers is casually discarded. This was the point where Geass lost its way.

By contrast, in Witch we have a major political procedure centered around a sort-of princess wanting to do right by the people her family has oppressed but manipulated by more sinister interests occurring, and of course it all goes wrong and there's a lot of carnage and devastation that makes things worse instead of better. But it is accomplished in a way that, shock of shocks, makes logical sense that was set up by the narrative and characters! It feels like a tragedy that was inevitable rather than one that happened out of nowhere because someone suddenly decided to make a joke about genocide. And of course, the princess-type character actually gets to live with the consequences and grow from them to redeem herself. This is what should have happened on Geass: Lelouch should have deliberately sabotaged Euphemia's procedure just as he was intending to, only to be met with unforeseen and unwanted consequences when Schniezel retaliates with extreme prejudice, similar to how Prospera's sabotage of Miorine ended up setting off Shaddiq to go full school shooter.

So, with all that said, what's the one major thing Geass has over Witch?

While in Witch the main protagonist is Suletta Mercury, her mother Prospera is the character with a more direct correlation to Lelouch: a strategically brilliant, personally manipulative and theatrically charismatic individual who wears a metallic mask and yearns for both revenge and the creation of a new, better world no matter how many lives they have to take to achieve these goals, and who will use their loved ones as a justification for the selfish things they do.

Even though Geass developed a bad habit in its second season of glorifying Lelouch despite his atrocities in order to pander to his popularity, it never fully lost the plot on him (that only happened in the later, separate continuity film Lelouch of the Resurrection, but we're not talking about that garbage here). The narrative's position was still that he did wrong and that he had to pay for it in the end; he himself acknowledged this and even ensured that it happened! Additionally, as awful as he could be Lelouch was a teenager, and he had been wronged when he was a mere child, so there was still a degree of sympathy and leeway that the viewer could offer him, since the adults and systems in his life legitimately failed him.

Prospera, on the other hand, ended up feeling validated for all of the horrible actions she undertook. Instead of accepting and facing the consequences like Lelouch did, she gets off scot-free because someone else rather spontaneously decides to take the blame for her. Her living victims forgive her and the dead people she was seeking revenge for even show up to say they're proud of her! The discussion that she created more victims and by her own vengeful logic is fair game to be targeted for revenge by one of them is never had! Worse is that she was already a grown woman when the tragedy that sparked her into seeking revenge and a better world transpired, and roughly half of her villainy involves manipulating children! Many viewers say the sudden endgame Death Star type laser was the worst thing Witch did, but I beg to differ: that would have been fine had Okouchi been granted more time to set it up, which would have happened if he wasn't forcibly saddled by the higher-ups with a subplot he never intended to eat up the time that it did (Guel and his stupid family drama). There is no such excuse with this decision. Okouchi just decided she was an uwu victim.

I can accept the Death Star type laser. I can even accept Suletta's big Deus ex Machina peace-sparking victory in the final battle because that's kind of a Gundam franchise tradition at this point and there have been far worse versions of it. But I cannot accept a murderous terrorist facing no repercussions and even getting rewarded for their crimes in the end. For all that went wrong in it, Geass knew (at its time as a series anyway) that Lelouch couldn't live Happily Ever After in a peaceful world with his sister; not after he'd denied so many others that same chance. But Prospera gets to live Happily Ever After in a peaceful world with the daughters and daughter-in-law that she abused, and we're just supposed to be OK with that.

You did better here overall, Okouchi, but you still need to go back to writing school.

[bnesszai]

🧃🪐🛼🥑🍄🧸🍬🔪🦷🌿🥐🏜️🍅☁️

for the ask game!

Hi Rohini!<3

juice box: Share some personal lore you never posted about before

uuuhh. i don't find myself particularly interesting but uuuhhh i lived on a military base until i was 8 years old

idk i can't remember any facts about myself rn opatgsiophgspijg

Saturn: name three good things going on in your life rn

ahhh. i'm Big Sad rn but um. 1) i just started my second to last term of uni. 2) the non-profit I'm part of is planning a lot of cool events and 3) i have really amazing friends

rollerskate: describe your latest wip with 5 emojis

i did this for 1 wip already here but, since i have a billion, here's another

🎨🍷🧑‍🔧🩹😍

avocado: you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

@squidsandthings and @osameowdazai <3

mushroom: share a hc for one of your fave ships/pairings

Chuuya always takes of his gloves when he knows that he and Dazai will be hanging out. he wants to be able to hold Dazai's hand and touch his cheeks and just generally feel Dazai's skin under his fingertips

teddy: what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

honestly, whenever someone follows me, i look at their blog and, in a lot of cases, end up following back. otherwise, if someone is in my notes a lot I'll look at their blog to see if i wanna follow them

candy: post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

answered here, kind of

knife: what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

if it's possible to brand an eyeball without just. destroying it. like if you could actually see the brand on the eye or not. definitely would be weird but (and no i don't remember the results of this research. it was for an of novel i was writing in high school a long time ago opaehsghshea)

tooth: share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

don't be a dick to people who are trying to help you

leaf: give advice on writers block/low creativity

Read all about it

croissant: name one Internet reference that will always make you laugh

"Why are you buying clothes at the soup store?" "FUCK YOU" the Code Geass version

desert: what's your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

Answered here!

tomato:give yourself some constructive criticism on your won writing

I tend to start different ideas within the overarching plot and then abandon them. I need to either not include them at all, or remember to circle back to and expand upon them

cloud: what made you choose your username?

well, the bnessz comes from my irl name, my husband's irl name, and my nickname Ness. the "zai" is cuz of Dazai brainrot

Asks Here

[0tivez]

unpopular opinion but code geass’ only good episode was the final episode

like there are certain old anime that people just die to defend when mostly they’re okay. like i love fmab but it’s good because it was consistently good, not because the story was extraordinary imo but people praise it as if it’s an ancient russian novel 😭 code geass was mostly boring for its premise but had a superb final episode, a banger and extremely underrated opening AND takahiro sakurai

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

just another little anti-suzaku-hate rant because suzaku kururugi is love & deserves some appreciation (esp if lelouch is gonna get praised)

(these are my feelings after binging Code Geass Season 1. I've just started Season 2 so my feelings can very well change)

I actually like Suzaku Kururugi. Like, a lot.

I love both him and love-hate Lelouch, even though I find many of Lelouch’s actions and his outlook on some things despicable (yet this egomaniac still has a piece of my heart…ergh. It’s tiring, these conflicting emotions).

But people are out here hating on Suzaku yet are worshipping Lelouch when Lelouch has heartlessly murdered and manipulated tens of times more people for his own selfish gain. But it’s Suzaku that people pile grief onto.

This just doesn’t make sense to me.

Suzaku isn’t perfect and his idealism is a little misguided, but at least he cares about humanity more than Lelouch has proven to. Lelouch’s main driving factor is not the Japanese people, but his revenge on his father and providing a better life for his sister (who, if we’re being real here, doesn’t even have that crappy of a life to begin with, especially when compared to the Japanese). The people and “justice” only come after.

Wanting a better world for Nunnally is a commendable goal, but the means he’s taking to get there are just…atrocious at times, honestly. I get that in war, sacrifices must be made. To raise a rebellion, life will be lost. I get that, I totally do. But Lelouch sacrifices lives from both sides with little care unless it’s people he’s directly connected with, and when he is faced with the consequences of his actions (like with Shirley’s dad and Euphemia), he disregards them in the end as merely “a necessary sacrifice.” It’s pretty heartless, actually. He only really shows a struggle with this when it’s people who he personally cares about or has ties to.

And that’s selfishly hypocritical.

This isn’t hating on Lelouch, because as much as he infuriates me, I actually love him a lot. He’s a fascinating character and when he does show his caring, affectionate side, it’s a wonderful thing to behold—however, I’m also able to recognize and call him out on the wrong he does. I’m not saying he doesn’t care at all for humanity or the Japanese, for he does, just when it comes to his end goal vs people, he chooses his end goal every time. If the sacrifice doesn’t directly affect him, he rarely thinks twice about it or will regret it.

Lelouch is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone on a mass scale to give a better life for his sister…and for his revenge. Yet no one dislikes him for this. No one hates on him or calls him out on this. But you know who they will hate on? Suzaku Kururugi.

“He’s a little b*tch” “He’s so annoying” “Can he just die already” “He’s always in the way I hate him so much!!” What did this kid do though to deserve all this hate? Yeah, he joined the Brittanian army, but the whole reason he did so was to make a difference with as little life lost as possible. Suzaku wanted to change things from the inside out in a way that didn’t require so much blood, death and destruction. Yeah, it’s very idealistic and naive, but Suzaku’s intentions and heart are 100% genuine. He doesn’t have any ulterior, self-centered motives driving him like Lelouch does. And he certainly doesn’t willingly sacrifice lives to achieve his goal the way Lelouch does.

Both Suzaku and Lelouch share a goal: to bring peace to the world. Their methods are different, yes, and both characters have some serious flaws. But they’re different sides of the same coin utilizing different means to achieve their goal. The difference is: Lelouch has more selfish reasons as his main driving reason and he’s willing to sacrifice anyone who stands in his way.

It’s hypocritical to praise Lelouch but turn around and hate on Suzaku, especially since Lelouch has done way more heinous things and is willing to sacrifice anybody’s life to achieve his goal (he only debates this when it’s someone directly connected to him). Suzaku at least values human life and is trying to change the world with the least amount of life lost. He’s not perfect and in no way am I saying he hasn't done wrong as well, for he certainly has; however, it's not nearly to the scale as Lelouch and not as intentionally as Lelouch has. So with that, I just don’t get how people will strongly hate Suzaku but will turn around and excuse/worship everything Lelouch does.

Anyways, rant over. Ofc everyone is open to their own opinion and can love/hate any character they want; I just wanted to defend my boy a bit because there are a lot of hypocrites out there who hate on Suzaku for things that they turn a blind eye on when it comes to Lelouch.

[bootlickerhawks]

suzaku spin-kicked ran so that hawks could stumble and fall flat on his face

[roloko-karlstein]

Wow the Rebroadcast op/ed are shit I don’t know why I was expecting entirely new visuals though. The visuals didn’t go well with the song for me I wasn’t pumped or anything like I was when I first watched the series 13 years ago.

Didn’t like either song honestly Flow has much better songs same for TK.

[animegenork]

I’m Sensing a Pattern

I’ve noticed that in a lot of fandoms, I’ll usually be the one to have the complete opposite opinion of the majority of those I see.

For some examples:

With Code Geass, I actually strongly dislike Lelouch. A lot of users on MyAnimeList have him as their favorite, which is fine, but I didn’t like him all that much. I understood his motivations, sure, but that doesn’t mean I liked his execution. In fact, I liked Ohgi a helluva lot more than Lelouch.

I don’t think I need to explain my love of Digimon in a world of Pokémon fans and why THAT’S so opposite.

I think Diabolik Lovers is awful, both in lack of plot and the characters’ treatment of MC. (I’m definitely not the only one of this opinion, but I still see a lot of love for the series in general.)

Sure, Frozen was popular, but that doesn’t mean it was the best thing ever. I still like Lion King a lot more.

The live action remakes of Disney movies aren’t that bad.

Moonlight Lovers Ivan is still the man. The ex-girlfriend plot may be tired and played out, but it’s still realistic. It still harkens back to real life, where ex-girlfriends do, in fact, exist.

The Kim Possible reboot was actually pretty good, considering it was a completely separate continuity from what the original show did.

That’s all I can think of right now, but I’m sure there are others. I’m just wondering if this means I’m crazy, pretty damn unique, or if my constant watching of shows/anime and reading of books/manga has desensitized me to blindly loving or hating anything.

Who can say?

[masqueradefestival]

Shirley and Lelouch is such a good ship...over a decade at this point and my love for this ship is still going strong. I will probably rise from my grave at some point to talk about how much I love my OTP and the two of them separately.

Credit for the scan that this is part of goes to @forever-suzalulu who for some reason Tumblr won't tag properly.

[orangecherryart]

What’s your opinion on Lelouch x Milly as a ship?~ Just curious personally, being such a multishipper myself

Hmmm…Well I do think it’s kind of cute actually. I haven’t seen much of the ship but I do see where people are coming from with said ship. They both knew each other when they were kids and Milly, after all these years, had still kept Lelouch and Nunnally’s royalty status a secret. Milly, in my opinion, is actually quite an amazing and a fun laid back character and I admire that. Sometimes I see that most people don’t like her because she’s “pervy” but oh well I guess. She had her fair share of moments of being serious as well and that’s what I like about her as well. 

Sorry for getting distracted, but yeah, Lelouch and Milly as a ship is still pretty cute and it’s nice knowing that they had some “history” together. I mean, I normally ship Lelouch with the three girls: that being C.C, Kallen, and most importantly Shirley!

[asklelouch-archive]

Mod Note: or any twin plot, for that matter. It is the mod’s opinion that the twin plot should not have been done, and Nightmare of Nunnally rubbed me the wrong way to begin with. Can Anyone explain to me why Nunnally’s geass was a physical one? When it was well established that geass worked with the mind only?

But anyway--Rolo was done dirty. He was his own character in canon, he deserved to remain as such, not the cliche ‘forgotten twin’.

[edit] And I just realized this was in the askgeassgirls(archived) inbox and I hadn’t actually clicked on the asklelouch one.

...My point still stands tho.

[stressedoutotaku]

Unpopular Opinion: Code Geass Edition

1. I ship Lelouch with Shirley

2. I hate the Black Knights

3. I wanna kill Ohgi and Villetta

4. I don't like Kallen that much

5. Schneizel is gay

6. Lelouch is an asshole and a bastard... but I love him

7. I pretty much ship Lelouch and Euphie

8. Lelouch is the anime version of V in V for Vendetta and Batman

9. I don't like that Lelouch's weakness in exercising became a comic relief

10. I love Lloyd Asplund

[themattress]

Unpopular Opinion Re:Code Geass

I am not at all looking forward to this Lelouch of the Resurrection film or anything that may come from it - because it appears to be following one of the biggest problems I had with R2, which is skewing things for the purpose of the glorification of Lelouch. This in of itself may be an unpopular opinion: I love Lelouch, he’s a highly charismatic and interesting character, but he does not remotely deserve to be glorified. I don’t care how tragic his backstory is or how righteous his motivations seem or how evil so many people he fights against are - the fact still remains that Lelouch is a borderline psychopath who has caused immeasurable damage and devastation on both a personal and impersonal level (I say borderline because despite checking off most psychopath traits, he doesn’t entirely lack empathy for others and he absolutely doesn’t lack remorse for his actions: a big driving force behind the Zero Requiem). Lelouch being glorified and treated as a total hero instead of the anti-hero who evolves into a villain we saw in the show’s original season remains my biggest problem with the character.

[bosooka]

rewatching r1 of code geass more like “oh lmao remember when that guy was alive”

[rottingraisins]

Also. andrea adams !!!

ADAMS beloved. another scp character that i like a really disproportionate amount there is arguably not all that much to her but i love funny fail bi woman

fav thing: she is so fucking funny and bounces off every character she shares the page with wonderfully. resurrection is unfortunately such a fucking slog to get through sometimes but all her scenes are literally so good whenever she appeared i internally started cheering

least fav thing: author clefs writing is very. how do i put this. michael bay action movie-esque when it comes to women sometimes. its not egregiously bad but why does her combat suit need to be skintight

favorite line: Admit it, Doctor Clef. You're just jealous that I've accomplished something you never could. I decommissioned a Skip… and stayed within my budget.

brOTP: Ive already talked about both her and iris and her and clef already so shoutout to her and foxx. Theyre so code geass im at soup video to me.

OTP: /

nOTP: /

random headcanon: its canon that much like lament she doesnt remember anything about her past before joining the foundation and i do think although she tries not to she gets melancholic about that sometimes. shes a very affectionate sort of person so i think the idea that she has a family and friends out there that shes functionally abandoned forever gets to her and is also why shes very overbearing to her foundation-era friends like roth and elliot. its also an interesting contrast to iris who gets very hung up on her life pre-foundation

unpopular opinion: /

song: /

fav pic: i love like all your designs holly but your adams is probably my favorite take on her ive seen shes so aerodynamic